French PWR passes decommissioning milestone

02 September 2013

French nuclear company Areva is celebrating the completion of work to remove radioactive material from major parts at the Chooz A nuclear power plant in a first of a kind project.

The primary loop components - four steam generators, the pressurizer and the primary loop pipes - were cleaned using chemicals to reduce the degree of radioactivity so that they could be classified as 'very low level waste'. The components have now been transported for storage at a facility managed by France's national radioactive waste management agency, Andra.

Thirteen experimental and power reactors are undergoing decommissioning in France. Chooz A, a 300 MWe unit which operated from 1967 to 1991, is the only pressurized water reactor (PWR) in the list.